Woodworking blog entries tagged with 'saw bench'

I made about 10 half inch deep cuts to remove most of the waste wood for the groove.
My white pine 1X2 saw guide and clamps.
Here is the 1-1/2” wide by 1/2” deep groove the length of the top board.
I can’t believe how good it looks! I made and used my “poor man’s router” that Paul Sellers talks about in one of his videos. It is a poor man’s router made poorly by me. But it worked well enough to get the bottom of the groove flat. I’ll ha...

This is what it looks like all put together.
Still have to do a bit of flattening to the top side. It started out almost perfectly flat. But a couple three boards had warped so there were a couple of low spots. I’ve removed about 1/4” so far, leaving only two spots untouched by the planer – one about three or four square inches and another just a bit bigger.
I’ve been taking several 45° angle passes across the entire surface.

Making up a bunch of oak dowel pegs.
I use my old Delta belt/disc sander to clean-up the splinters and chamfer the ends of the dowels. Those oak splinters are a big pain!
Oak dowels come in all colors!
I keep the sets together and use them on the same joints as much as possible.
Second upright on Saw Bench/Saw Horse No. 2 was out of square by 1/4” (diagonal measurements) – after removing the 48” pipe clamps, this is the resulting diagonal measurements:
I c...

Straight cuts done fairly quickly, cleanly, and accurately now – becoming second nature.
Needed to to shave off a bit more than I wanted to deal with using a chisel, so I am using my mitre/back saw to dissect this “whisper” of a shaving.
Thinnest sliver I’ve ever re-sawn before.
Oops! Almost messed up! Got be careful with layout & marking.
More marks – I’ve gone to marking waste with an “X” even when it’s so obvious, just i...

Here is a shot of the upright posts in their “sandwich” mortises.
Left side: C-clamps do the job.
Right side: Pittsburgh bar clamps and one C-clamp.
Almost complete.
Front and back upright assemblies are skewed by about 3/16”.
It’s beautiful wood though!
And the top rails are dead even in height.

Here I am cutting out a chunk of wood from one side of the “feet” boards. It’s so much easier to chip out waste if there are smaller wafers standing. This reminds me somehow of piano keys.
One side almost done. Just a little more fitting and then glue and dowel pins.
Have to trim a bit on this one side of one of the upright posts to get the two boards to close together at the back.
Fuzzy picture from the front.
And the ‘feet’ for the right sid...

From my “bunk bed” screws holding the rails on while the glue dries overnight, to 5/16” oak dowels glued in enlarged holes.
Here are four more pins for the next rail.
Gluing up the top rail now using new HF 1/2” pipe clamps. At first I didn’t think they were going to work. The back clamp wanted to slide badly. But after I took some Coleman stove fuel to the pipes to remove much of that gummy, waxy finish they worked brilliantly. They are a little bit heavy,...

Cutting dados for stretchers. I finally sharpened my new Kobalt 5/8” chisel and I am taking my time removing the waste. Also being real careful not to cut below the mark on depth.
All cut for one side of one horse and laying on the work surface (uprights are on the wrong side – it fit much better with them switched to the correct side (reversed).
Stretchers fit nicely.
Gaps aren’t too big or wide. Good for saw bench/saw horse.
And it stands up on it’...

Beginning dove tail number one.
This is how I clamp it up to work on the end cuts.
More saw cuts to remove waste between the pins.
It doesn’t want to fit yet.
Got start whittling it down – just now wants to fit together.
About 1/3 of the way.
Almost there!
Finally! Not too bad for first dovetail ever.